The Third World Championship
The Third World Championship was the last of three special Robot Wars championships in which robots from all over the world competed against each other, representing their respective countries. The Third World Championship was broadcast as part of Robot Wars: The Seventh Wars and was originally broadcast on Five on March 28, 2004. It was the last episode of the original Robot Wars series to be broadcast on TV before it was rebooted in 2016. The championship was hosted by Craig Charles, the pit reporter was Jayne Middlemiss and commentary was provided by Jonathan Pearce. Format The championship featured 12 robots from around the world, representing their respective countries. Before the championship, seven qualifiers were held to decide which robots would qualify for the tournament. Five other robots were given automatic places in the tournament. The robots were drawn into four melees, featuring three robots each. One robot from each melee progressed to the semi-finals, with the two winners of the semi-finals moving onto the final. Competing robots Heats Spartacus (USA) vs Hard (BEL) vs Supernova (SRI) At first, Spartacus and Hard appeared to be ganging up on Supernova. Supernova hit both of them with its spinning disc, immobilising Hard and damaging Spartacus' body. This impact thrusted Supernova onto the flame pit, but it escaped again. Supernova hit Spartacus again, which not only broke the drive for one of Spartacus' wheels, but also knocked Supernova out. Refbot counted out Hard, who was still firing its flipper but without any forward momentum. Once Hard was deemed immobilised Dead Metal sliced into the back of Hard, creating a shower of sparks which spewed onto the arena floor. Refbot then proceeded to count Supernova out, only for the Sri Lankan machine to suddenly start again when the count got to 2. Supernova hit Spartacus again, whilst Hard was taken to the familiar drop zone where it was pelted with several computer monitors. Hard's flipper was still working, as it tried to flip one of the falling computer monitors, but it had already been counted out. Just before Spartacus was counted out Supernova entered another spasm and could only twitch. As the count was finishing Spartacus spun around and whacked Supernova's flywheel. At the very end of the fight, Supernova clipped Spartacus again, as did Dead Metal's claws, which caused its armour to come off completely. Winner: Supernova PulverizeR (NED) vs Snake Bite (SUI) vs Crushtacean (RSA) Crushtacean instantly pressed the pit release button, then started attacking PulverizeR. PulverizeR attacked Crushtacean with its flywheel, but caused no damage; the initial hit also caused the flywheel to stop working. Crushtacean responded by slamming and chasing PulverizeR, eventually grabbing and pinning it against the wall. Snake Bite, meanwhile, struggled to move from the start as a result of hydraulic fluid leaking and soaking its tyres, resulting in it being unable to gain any traction on the arena floor. This resulted in the Swiss machine being counted out by Refbot as Crushtacean continued pushing and grappling with PulverizeR. Dead Metal attacked the defeated Snake Bite, creating a shower of sparks in the process, before Snake Bite eventually regained mobility as its tyres dried out. Snake Bite attempted to grab PulverizeR, with the Dutch representative caught by it and Crushtacean. PulverizeR stayed out of the action as Snake Bite and Crushtacean attacked each other, with the battle eventually going to a Judges' decision. The decision ruled in favour of Crushtacean. Winner: Crushtacean Ansgar 3 (GER) vs Storm 2 (UK) vs Tornado (UK) Predictably, Storm 2 and Tornado ganged up on Ansgar almost right from the start, whose spinning blade didn't appear to be working. The two slammed Ansgar into Growler's CPZ, the arena side wall, the flame pit and finally the pit itself, with the German machine powerless to attack due to its stalled blade. Afterwards, the two British machines pushed each other around the arena. At one point, Tornado pushed Storm 2 into Dead Metal's pincers, who bruised the strong titanium armour, but no damage to the exposed wheels. Upon exiting, Storm 2 lifted up Tornado with its lifter and carried it to the arena wall. A well controlled drive by Storm 2 slammed Tornado into the arena wall, knocking it upside down and almost out of the arena. This impact almost thrust Storm 2 upside down as well. Again, the judges were called upon, and Storm 2 was the robot chosen. Winner: Storm 2 Typhoon 2 (UK) vs Rawbot (SWE) vs Tough as Nails (NED) Before the fight even started, Team Typhoon had used their last set of batteries for the Middleweight Championship of Series 7 (although Typhoon 2 was claimed to be suffering from "technical difficulties"), which forced Typhoon 2 to withdraw from the competition. This action surprised Jonathan Pearce, who expected Typhoon 2 to do well as the recently crowned champion. This left Tough as Nails and Rawbot to fight alone. The fight didn't last very long, as Tough as Nails instantly grabbed Rawbot, who had a problem with its control box and left it immobilised right from the start. The Dutch robot repeated its patented tactic and slammed Rawbot into the pit release button and pushed Rawbot towards the pit. Several shoves later and the Swedish robot was in the pit. At the end of the fight Refbot could be seen spinning round in a victory dance. Winner: Tough as Nails Semi-Finals Supernova (SRI) vs Crushtacean (RSA) Crushtacean charged right at Supernova, which resulted in it damaging itself. For the rest of the battle, it found itself unable to move freely around the arena. Supernova hit Crushtacean again, knocking the bolts that held the claws away and rendering it immobile. Sir Killalot picked it up and placed it on the floor flipper, the resulting flip damaging the claw even further. Winner: Supernova Storm 2 (UK) vs Tough as Nails (NED) Storm 2 drove straight into Tough as Nails' pincers and used its eighteen horsepower drive to bulldoze Tough as Nails around the arena and into the arena wall, where one of Tough as Nails' tyres broke off. Mr. Psycho also threw his hammer into equation, by slamming down on the Dutch machine during one of its spells in the CPZ. Storm 2 drove into the pincers again and edged Tough as Nails towards the pit where, after a major struggle, the Dutch machine finally fell in. Winner: Storm 2 Grand Final Supernova (SRI) vs Storm 2 (UK) This was a rematch from the Seventh Wars, where Storm 2 had immobilised Supernova in Round 1 of Heat I. Storm 2 drove straight at Supernova and got underneath it, the disc doing no apparent damage. The two charged at each other, but missed. They tried again, but the two robots were deflected. Storm 2 slammed Supernova into the arena wall, where the Sri Lankan machine spun off it. Supernova drove back at Storm 2, but missed, with one wheel going up Storm 2's wedge. However, this threw Supernova out of balance, and it crashed, side on, into the arena wall. Supernova was unable to right itself, whilst Shunt, for no apparent reason, shoved Storm 2, back side up, against the grinder. Eventually, Refbot freed Supernova from the wall, and a few seconds later, Supernova freed Storm 2. Storm 2 charged at Supernova again, but because it was upside down, it only caused itself damage. Cease was called and the judges had to make a decision. However, after watching the replay, they decided that Supernova had been immobilised on the arena wall for much longer than the thirty seconds allowed, and thus the fight should have ended. As a result, Storm 2 were given the victory. Third World Champion: Storm 2 Trivia *As the final episode of Robot Wars to be aired before its 12-year hiatus, this marked the last appearance of many robots, such as Tornado and Sergeant Bash. **This was also the final episode to feature Craig Charles and Jayne Middlemiss. **This also marked the final time the Drop Zone was used, and made it's final appearance. *This was the fourth time a controversial battle involving Storm 2 occurred. Interestingly, it was said that this battle was a grudge match against Supernova from the first round of Heat I of the Seventh Wars. *The only other grudge match was between Storm 2 and Tornado with the same result albeit Ansgar was also in the fight. **Incidentally only Tornado and Ansgar had competed in The Second World Championship. *This episode was released on DVD with Jetix Magazine issue 18. This was one of only two episodes of Series 7 to feature all nine House Robots, the other being Heat H. *The Third World Championship Heats featured robots from as many nations as in the Second World Championship. *Including the Qualifiers, a record thirteen nations were represented in the Third World Championship. Category:World Championships Category:The Seventh Wars Category:International Events Category:Episodes in which the Arena is damaged